As for me, the most interesting thing about him is his passion to learn a new language. Before watching videos about him, I thought I have to learn only English to communicate with foreign people and acquire some new mind-set, because we can share our mind-set with people who can speak in English. However, he said that we should learn a language when we want to get some new thought. This is because language has a strong connection with its culture and thought. This idea can be helped by his saying that “you can translate words easily, but you can’t quite translate meaning”. I believe it means we can’t translate some nuance of the language, and this results in the conclusion that we should learn a new language.
Also, I think we can take one of his way into consideration that he put together some words which have similar way to write down or pronounce, and connect the meaning of these words with some words of another language. I think it can help us distinguish these words easily, and it can prevent us from misunderstanding or misuse of words.
I'm also impressed by his passion of learning foreign languages. I think it interesting that each language has a strong connection with its culture and thought.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your commenting.
DeleteI think the connection between English and their thought can be seen especially in some idioms.
How profound languages are! It may impossible to understand some cultures perfectly without acquiring their languages...
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot for your comment.
DeleteYeah I want to know some original way to think of Japanese by comparing Japanese and English!
His words are full of persuasiveness! English is a common language of the world now, but we cannot dismiss other languages.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your commenting.
DeleteYeah that's right, it's true that we should take care of languages which are in danger of death, but now I have no idea to save them...
You can translate words easily, but you can’t quite translate meaning.This phrase made me think, too. Also I'll try the way not to be confused by similar words.
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot for the comment!
DeleteI think we can easily try this way when we use paper dictionary.
Thank you for replying.
DeleteI usually use an electric dictionary but for now I'll sometimes use a paper dictionary.
I also used to doubt whether a paper dictionary was worth it. But these days,I've felt the more I use it, the easier I remember something.
DeleteIndeed certain words in a language seem to capture certain ideas more elegantly than their translations. An example I can think of is "gemutlich" in German which suggests the kind of warm cosy feeling you experience sitting around an open fire.
ReplyDeleteDavid :-)
Thank you very much for your commenting and suggesting a pretty example!!
DeleteAn example for me is "wabisabi" in Japanese which shows the aesthetic sensibilities of Japanese for simplicity, imperfection, history, silence and something like that.
If you are interested, please google images about "わびさび", which means "wabisabi"!!